Uninformed
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: Had Bellatrix had the decency to inform the Dark Lord of her impending marriage, perhaps he would not have judged her so harshly. Written for DobbyRocksSocks' Ultimate OTP Competition on the HPFC Forum.


Author's Notes: Written for the first round of DobbyRocksSocks' Ultimate OTP Competition on the HPFC Forum, with the prompt "situation: a wedding".

)O(

Had Bellatrix had the decency to inform the Dark Lord of her impending marriage, perhaps he would not have judged her so harshly. If she had spoken to him on the matter instead of requiring him to listen to rumours and search through her mind when she dropped her guard, perhaps he would have forgiven her. Had the circumstances been right, he might have encouraged it, even – she was being married to a fellow Death Eater, after all; better that than to someone antagonistic towards their cause.

But Bellatrix had not informed him, and so it was grimly that he arrived at her wedding. He waited at the back of the chapel during the ceremony, disgusted by the rehearsed assurances of love, which carried no more meaning than if they had been reading lists of potion ingredients, but which everyone else seemed to consider the height of romance. Upon the end of the ceremony, he approached the couple, masking his revulsion.

"My Lord." Rodolphus inclined his head with all the deference that the Dark Lord deserved. Bellatrix didn't bow. The blood had drained from her face. He met her eyes and she quickly lowered her head. Her hands began to tremble visibly. She, unlike her husband, knew him well enough to be able to sense when he was displeased, and, likely, she already knew why.

"Rodolphus. Bellatrix."

"Master," Bellatrix said quietly. "We did not expect you to be here."

Rodolphus glanced at her, and his eyebrows drew together slightly. "Master, we are honoured by your presence. We are so deeply flattered that you should take the time to attend a meaningful event such as this..." He trailed off, then added, rather tentatively, "If I may ask, my Lord, what _have_ we done to be owed such a privilege as to have you in attendance at our wedding?"

"I wish to speak with your-" The word tasted foul in his mouth, and he spat it out, "_wife._"

"Of what matter, my Lord?" Bellatrix asked. He had never heard her voice shake from fear before, but shake it did.

"A minor one, but one that requires privacy." He looked sharply at Rodolphus, who bowed his head and stepped back.

"Of course, my Lord. I- I will leave you two to speak alone."

Bellatrix shot Rodolphus a quick, desperate look – too quick for _him_ to catch, but lingering long enough for the Dark Lord to see it. _Don't go. Don't leave me with him. Not now._

But Rodolphus did go. Bellatrix watched him, then swallowed hard and lifted one hand, weakly indicating the door of the chapel. "Perhaps we should go outside to speak? We could have more privacy there."

"Perhaps," he echoed, and saw her flinch at the coldness of his voice.

There was a fine drizzle outside and Bellatrix – dressed in her impractically diaphanous wedding dress – shivered when they stepped out of the chapel. She crossed her arms across her chest under the pretence of warming herself, but her posture shrunk in on itself so sharply that he could only take her pose as defensive.

He let silence hang between them for a few long moments, watching Bellatrix's tension mount with every second, then he said, bitingly, "Mrs. Lestrange, now, is it?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Does he know?"

Bellatrix didn't have to ask what he was referring to. Doubtless, she had been anticipating a question of this sort. She shook her head and fidgeted. "No, Master. I have not told him. I thought that you would not approve of me telling him. You always seemed to want things to remain- private."

"I did not approve of your marriage."

Her face went quite crimson. "My Lord, our marriage has been arranged since we were children. I assure you that we did not mean to keep it from you, and that it was not- was not..." She swallowed visibly and ran her tongue around her lips. "I did not marry him because of you."

"Because of me?" he echoed dryly. "Do you believe that is what I think you did? Do you believe that I suspect you of turning around and accepting the marriage proposal of the first man who looks at you? Do you think that I am that illogical - do you believe that I am _jealous_, Bellatrix?"

She faltered. "Are you not?"

"Of Rodolphus Lestrange?" His lip curled.

"Of my husband." Her eyes darted from one side to the other, avoiding his. "I thought – when you said that you did not approve the marriage – I assumed that you meant that you would have wished for us not to get married. Was that not what you meant?"

He made a small noise of contempt, and when Bellatrix did not seem to take that for an answer, he said, "I have no interest in who you marry, Bellatrix. I question only the decision of you and your husband to hold such an important event without consulting your Master."

Bellatrix's face fell. "I apologize, my Lord. It was the will of our families that the marriage should go on, not of us. Believe me, my Lord, if it were my decision, I would never have given my hand in marriage to any man... save yourself, if you had asked for it."

Her presumptuousness in even _considering_ that he might have been interested in her hand in marriage...

"I feel certain that you will be most happy in your marriage," he told her, making no effort to disguise the way his voice dripped with scorn and disgust. "But be sure never to forget who your first loyalty should be to."

"To you, Master," Bellatrix said, without hesitation. "Marriage could never lessen my devotion to you."

She said it, and she meant it, but he did not believe it. Much though he could sense her conviction – sense that she truly believed that her devotion would not be lessened by marriage – he could already predict the way that things would change in the years to come. Bellatrix would think of her husband before she thought of him. She would think of his safety before she thought of the good of the Death Eaters. It would not be long before she was useless.

And, petty though it was, he would have been dishonest had he not recognized also that it rankled that she would be spending nights in Rodolphus Lestrange's bed over his. Rodolphus Lestrange! Well-intentioned but slow-witted – he was less than what Bellatrix deserved.

"Master?"

"I hope you understand," he said, and spoke coldly and calmly, "that this will mark the end of our... relationship."

Bellatrix swallowed visibly, and he thought he saw her eyes misting slightly, but she did not protest. "If that is what you desire, my Lord, then I will not protest."

"I did not desire it." _No, not in the slightest_. "But a married woman has no place in my bed." _Keeping up a relationship with her would only make it more difficult to dispose of her when the time came._

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
